I sat on the fallen tree and looked at her graceful body and beautiful red wings. She flexed them elegantly and caught the breeze; the butterfly flew off into the summer sky. I sighed and stood up; I should probably be getting ready for training anyway. I started back into the house slowly; I wondered what today would hold.

I finally arrived at the field where Kiba and Hinata were waiting for Kurenai. Hinata waved shyly and Kiba stormed over.

"Where the hell have you been Shino!" he yelled, Akamaru barked in agreement.

"I had some things I had to do. Besides, Kurenai isn't here yet so why should it matter?" I answered coolly.

"Ah, forget it. Just don't let that stuff slow us down. Got it?"

Kiba skulked back to the tree were his bag lay. Hinata crept over and laid a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't mind Kiba. He's in a bad mood because Kurenai's late. Are you ok?" she barely whispered.

"I just feel a little bit out of it…it's nothing really. Don't worry about it. Where is Kurenai?"
As the words left my mouth she leapt down from the oak tree behind us and threw a kunai to Kiba. He caught it and stood up.

"Kiba I want you to go and hide in the forest, you too are going to go and retrieve the kunai from him without him realising. Understood?" she ordered.

Hinata and I nodded as Kiba ran towards the cover of the forest. What a day this was going to be; we set off after Kiba once we'd given him a five minute head start. Hinata was to circle the perimeter of the forest while I searched the inner section of it. When either of us found Kiba we were to tell the other via walkie-talkie but still keep our cover from him. When we were both there we planned to distract him while the other of the pair carefully took the kunai from him. No doubt Akamaru would be watching too but I was sure we could get around that the same way we distracted Kiba.

I silently called out to a nearby wasp; it turned its small black head and flew over to me. It landed softly on my hand and gazed up at me. I smiled as I told it what to do; it flew off into the forest with a quiet buzz. I continued my search.

Five minutes later the wasp landed on my shoulder and told me what it'd found. It flew off, expecting me to follow. It led me to a small hollowed out log where it promptly landed and walked in a small circle. I thanked it and called Hinata, she wasn't too far away so she was beside me in ten minutes or so. She slowly crept towards the log.

She let her foot scuff the ground slightly before diving behind a small bush (Well I say dive but to dive you have to be a tad more bold…it was more like a shy flop.) and waiting for Kiba to notice. She carefully came up behind the log and I heard Kiba moving towards the other end, I moved slightly to better position myself for the retrieval. Hinata turned her back to the log so Kiba could run…which he did. Fool. He ran straight passed me and failed to realize that he was now being followed by a swarm of flying ants. I watched in amusement as the small army carefully extracted the knife and hovered quietly towards me. I thanked them and took the kunai before returning to Hinata with it in my hand. We headed silently back to Kurenai who was leaning against the tree.

She nodded as I held up the kunai.

"Does Kiba know you have it?" she asked slyly.

"Probably not, he was too busy trying to hide at the time." I answered.

Suddenly a voice rang out through the forest.

"WELL THANKS FOR COMING TO GET ME GUYS!" Kiba yelled.

"Well I think he knows now." Smiled Kurenai as the echo died away.

Kiba came out of the forest covered in dirt and moss. He has obviously tried to hide in a rotten tree or something of that sort. Akamaru was spotless so I couldn't help but laugh to myself. Training was a lot nicer once Kiba's mood altered. It was easier to concentrate.

I wandered into the forest perfectly away that the team was coming after me in less than three minutes. I stepped up onto a tree branched and climbed up to a fair distance that was just high enough to be hided but still able to see around me. The cool summer breeze brushed my hair and cheek; it was peaceful up where I was.

A rustling caught my attention and I crouched back further into the tree trunk. A girl of my own age stepped out of the bushes carrying a basket of berries. Her long blonde hair that fell to her shoulder blades was tossing gently in the breeze. She wore a knee length dress that was slightly snagged at the hem from the brambles and thorns. She hummed to herself as she walked and I couldn't help but watch her cross the clearing. A shadow moved behind me and I turn sharply, nearly causing myself to fall out of the tree, to find Kiba crouched on the branch behind mine. A swiftly turned my gaze again to check for Hinata, no such luck, but the other branches were empty. Kiba smirked and dropped down again, he ran into the bushes to where I assumed Hinata hid. I jumped from the tree and ran to another section of the forest, trees blurred past and the grass rustled under my feet. By the time I saw her it was too late.

I ran straight into the girl I had seen earlier. She dropped the basket as she fell and the berries scattered around us. I twisted to make sure she landed on me so I could break her fall a bit but that kind of resulted in me being hit full on in the chest. We lay on the floor for a second to get our bearing before I helped her up and crouched to get her basket for her.

"Um…Sorry. I wasn't looking where I was….sorry." I stuttered.

She giggled slightly and started to gather up the fallen berries. She was beautiful. She had light blue eyes that glittered in the summer sun and her smile was gorgeous. She reached out and straightened up my sunglasses while I pulled a leaf out of her hair. I looked back to see if Kiba or Hinata had follow but the path was bare. We stood up and she held a hand out.

"I'm Kokoro Byakuya." Her voice was soft and smooth like chocolate.

"I'm…I'm Shino Aburame. I'm sorry about that." I replied.

"It's ok. Who are you running from?"

"Team mates…we're training."

"I'm not meant to be in here am I?"

"Nah, it's ok. I've got to go, they're looking for me. Goodbye Kokoro."

"Goodbye Shino."

For the rest of the day I just couldn't get Kokoro out of my head. The way her hair flowed gracefully in the breeze and the way her eyes just shone. I couldn't concentrate on training…which kind of annoyed Kiba and Kurenai. I couldn't help it, she was fascinating. When I got home my mother was in the garden planting herbs, I think it was basil or sage.

"Nice day Shino?" she asked cheerily…as always.

"Yeah, have you ever heard of someone called Byakuya…Kokoro Byakuya?" I asked absent-mindedly.

"Can't say I have…Hang on a sec. Now that I think of it. Isn't that owner of the florist an Byakuya?"

"Thanks mother."

I decided then and there to find out. I strolled across the market and felt a smile spread across my face. I loved the market: so many people working together to create something different. So many different kinds of people and jobs; some people had higher rank than others but some didn't care. It was just like an ant colony. Everyone doing there bit and not complaining because that's what they did and that's what they stuck with.

I spotted the flower shop on the corner and my heart started to skip, and I can assure you that it hadn't done that before. I mean sure enough my heart had beat in my throat when we've been in danger but it'd never once started to flutter like the wings of a wasp in my chest. I swallowed hard and stepped towards the small florist. It seemed to take forever, every step was an effort. It was odd to find myself in this state…what was this feeling? I wanted to just run in there and see her but at the same time I was nervous. What if she wasn't there? What if she didn't remember me? What if she did but didn't like me because I crashed into her?

I took a deep breath and tried to clear these thoughts from my mind. I was just going into the florist to talk to Kokoro…it was no big deal. I walked in and the woman behind the counter greeted me warmly. I looked around for Kokoro but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Excuse me. Is Kokoro here?" I asked trying to swallow my nerves.

"Why yes, she's out the back. I'll get her for you now. Oh, um…who shall I say wants her?" she had a warm voice and I felt better for it.

"Shino Aburame."

She vanished through the door behind the counter and a few minutes later came back through with Kokoro. Her long blonde hair was tied up and a smudge of dirt was smeared over her right cheek. The lady from the counter went back out. Kokoro came over with a shy smile.

"Um…hi, you wanted to see me?" her voice was like a chime in my mind. The words came off my tongue like a newly morphed moth.

"I…um…well…" I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

I raised a hand and wiped away the smudge on her cheek. Her skin was soft and smooth. I didn't know what I was doing but I figured I'd let it happen. I drew my face closer to hers and lightly kissed her. She softly kissed back and laid a hand on my shoulder. I pulled back slightly and she smiled. She looked up at me and traced her hand up my face; she removed my sunglasses as we kissed again.